I assume this is 1 reason a lot of people got addicted to nicotine: despite the shorter half life you need a longer time off to reset the effectiveness
I think nicotine is a strong behavioral reinforcer (especially when smoked, since it hits the brain immediately).
Caffeine: every other day likely keeps the same effect size?
My guess is that you build half as much tolerance taking X mg every other day compared to taking X mg daily.
My guess is that you build half as much tolerance taking X mg every other day compared to taking X mg daily.
Not my personal experience. Taking 300-400 mg caffeine every other day leads to ~no tolerance, or a very slowly developing one; taking that amount every day maxes out the tolerance very fast. My current schedule is just that, plus a once-a-month stretch where I skip caffeine for three days in a row to wipe out whatever tolerance may have crept up. (But obviously everyone’s biochemistry differs significantly, etc.)
on the caffeine days you’d feel similar to having taken 200mg in a caffeine-naive state
on the off days you’d feel similar to abstaining from caffeine after having taken 200mg daily for a while
200mg in a caffeine-naive state would feel pretty stimulating for most people I’d think. Do you feel more tired than a caffeine-naive baseline on the off days?
Depends on your model of addiction: is it pavlovian conditioning to generate the idea to smoke or a biochemical change which generates cravings you sooth by smoking? The later latter on, the earlier probably some part of causing smoking more.
All the +400mg/day people I know take it every day. Though I wouldn’t notice 200
Probable “write down your exact dowing schedule and if you feel a craving for more abstain for a long while” works, but how strong a craving do you get? (And doesn’t address reduced efficacy)
I think nicotine is a strong behavioral reinforcer (especially when smoked, since it hits the brain immediately).
My guess is that you build half as much tolerance taking X mg every other day compared to taking X mg daily.
Not my personal experience. Taking 300-400 mg caffeine every other day leads to ~no tolerance, or a very slowly developing one; taking that amount every day maxes out the tolerance very fast. My current schedule is just that, plus a once-a-month stretch where I skip caffeine for three days in a row to wipe out whatever tolerance may have crept up. (But obviously everyone’s biochemistry differs significantly, etc.)
My model says that if you took 400mg EOD:
on the caffeine days you’d feel similar to having taken 200mg in a caffeine-naive state
on the off days you’d feel similar to abstaining from caffeine after having taken 200mg daily for a while
200mg in a caffeine-naive state would feel pretty stimulating for most people I’d think. Do you feel more tired than a caffeine-naive baseline on the off days?
Yup, I expect the same regarding both.
Yup, it is.
Hard to say, but probably somewhat.
Sounds like you don’t actually disagree with “you build half as much tolerance” then?
stop being so similar to me lol
Depends on your model of addiction: is it pavlovian conditioning to generate the idea to smoke or a biochemical change which generates cravings you sooth by smoking? The later latter on, the earlier probably some part of causing smoking more.
All the +400mg/day people I know take it every day. Though I wouldn’t notice 200
Probable “write down your exact dowing schedule and if you feel a craving for more abstain for a long while” works, but how strong a craving do you get? (And doesn’t address reduced efficacy)